It is located in the heart of the historic centre of Gallipoliin a quiet and characteristic alley, the SEA SOU souvenir storea small retail store with just 25 square metres of exhibition space designed by architect Alessio Zanzarella and dedicated to souvenirs 'made in salento'.
The store was carved out of the ground floor of a former military building; the decision to open such a business here stems from the intuition of the entrepreneur Marcella Pisanello, who wanted to locate his store in a narrow street now considered by many tourists as an escape route from the hustle and bustle of the historic part of town, as it cuts across the centre and leads almost directly to the sea.
Everything starts from the conviction that the progress of Gallipoli's image (and especially that of the historic centre) lies in the ability of entrepreneurs and shopkeepers to involve designers and architects in an activity of revaluation and rethinking of urban spaces. Therefore, an emerging architect from the Salento area, winner of several regional and national architecture and design competitions, was involved: Alessio Zanzarella.
Architect Alessio Zanzarella, founder of AZEstudio
The project of SEA SOU store bears the signature of Alessio Zanzarellawho told us about his intervention:
"My idea came from Marcella's desire to structure a retail with a strong identity, a place with a clear image and an automatic imprinting. So I thought that the same functional elements (shelves, counter, etc.) decorated with a simple blue linear front could give the space the total perceptual image the client wanted..."
The project has a strong iconographic value, in the sense that the architectural concept takes on a more prominent role even than the craftsmanship of the furniture itself, which, although executed in a workmanlike manner, was made from 'poor' materials.
The shelves and counter are made 'to measure' from phenolic birch plywood panels treated on site with a white impregnating agent, so that the grain of the wood can be seen and resulting in a 'weathered' condition.
In contrast, the linear fronts, the only decorative element of the layout, were lacquered in the workshop with blue paint (RAL 5019 - CAPRI BLUE), to give them greater gloss and preciousness and to delineate a tactile detachment with the surface of the shelves.
The floor, on the other hand, is in porcelain stoneware with a "cedar wood" finish, in continuity with the entrance sill worked "jolly" without changing the finish, so as to minimise as much as possible the number of colour tones and materials.
SEA SOU store lighting technology
It was a priority to illuminate the items displayed along the shelves well.
L'architect Alessio Zanzarellaconsistent with his concept of 'lines', he therefore chose linear lighting along the shelves, placing LED profiles at the front edge of each shelf and directing them downwards.
Instead, for the high shelves and ambient light, he opted for a suspended electrified track with flood 60° adjustable floodlights, directed with crossed parabolas to provide a 'pinch' of lumens bounce off the white perimeter walls towards the centre of the room. With only 2 lighting levels, SEA SOU store appears to us as a well-lit space in all its compartments and in its overall view; this meticulous lighting design on the part of the architect, in addition to being in keeping with a general aesthetic vision, is above all functional to the sale of the products on display.
From Concept to Brand
The team of AZEstudio also took care of developing the shop's BRAND: from the identification of the name to the graphic composition of all corporate elements (packaging, corporate image, etc.).
Both the architectural layout and the graphics and decorations belong to the same 'family' ... i.e. everything has been marked by the use of the 'line' as a key stylistic element.
The concept of Alessio ZanzarellaAlthough made up of simple geometries, it envelops the user, making him feel immersed in a conceptual "sea" of lines, in a new dimension, constituting a clear example of architecture that can be made with genuineness and parsimony, without "ostentation", rather making the space "palpable" and attempting to send out a message: architecture and design can be for everyone (for everyone who appreciates ... that is!).
Ph. credits: Alice Zaccaria
